State Ballot Measures Fall Short
By High Country Advocate Staff
November 6, 2025
A Federal Shift With Expensive Consequences
Colorado’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is caught in the fallout of a national overhaul tucked into the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The new law, passed earlier this year, increases state responsibility for food assistance in two ways:
1. Raising the state share of administrative costs from 50 to 75 percent beginning in 2026, and
2. Requiring states with high payment-error rates to fund part of the benefits themselves.
Colorado’s payment-error rate—the percentage of SNAP cases in which benefit amounts are miscalculated—hit 9.97 percent in 2024, well above the federal 6 percent threshold. That places Colorado in the 10 percent cost-share tier, meaning the state will soon have to pay roughly $120 to $140 million per year in benefits that were previously covered entirely by federal funds.
Where the Money Would Come From
The state’s Department of Human Services admits it doesn’t yet have a funding plan or even a system to load state-funded benefits onto existing EBT cards. In the short term, officials have routed stop-gap dollars through food banks and community funds, but the legislature’s own analysts warn that those measures “barely touch the scope of need.”
During August’s special session, lawmakers authorized limited reserve spending and signaled possible cuts to other programs. The Joint Budget Committee also approved $10 million in emergency food-bank aid to bridge gaps during the ongoing federal funding freeze.
Propositions LL and MM: A Partial Fix
Voters approved Propositions LL and MM on November 4 — both aimed at saving Colorado’s Healthy School Meals for All program and offsetting new SNAP costs.
LL allows the state to retain about $12 million that would otherwise be refunded under TABOR limits. MM tightens tax deductions for households earning over $300,000, expected to generate $90–100 million annually.
However, those dollars are legally earmarked first for the school-meal program, which already faces a $50 million annual gap. Only leftover funds can go to SNAP or food assistance — and analysts say there may be none left for several years.
After the election, budget staff clarified that most of the new revenue will cover SNAP administrative costs, not additional benefits. Without major technical upgrades, state officials say they cannot yet add Colorado-funded dollars directly to EBT cards.
Colorado’s Technical Burden
The state’s 20-year-old Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) links 17 different databases — from the IRS and Social Security Administration to county wage records. The system’s age and data-lag contribute heavily to the state’s high error rate. Even a $1 discrepancy in a monthly benefit counts as a federal error.
Although the program leaves a complete electronic record, it still depends on human verification and outdated code logic. As a result, the same automation that should prevent mistakes instead exposes more of them — driving the official error rate higher and triggering new penalties.
A National Debate Over Responsibility
SNAP, funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, accounts for roughly 70 percent of the USDA budget and about 2 percent of total federal spending. Some lawmakers argue that shifting food aid to states would reduce the federal deficit and restore local control.
If Washington fully withdrew, the responsibility would fall to the states, which collectively would need to absorb more than $120 billion per year. For Colorado, assuming the full cost of SNAP would raise the state budget by nearly 8 percent.
Proponents of local control say such programs should be temporary bridges, not permanent guarantees, noting that early American prosperity was built on mobility and self-reliance. Critics counter that modern living costs and housing shortages make relocation or immediate self-sufficiency unrealistic for many low-income families.
Historical Roots of the Debate
Before the Great Depression, most assistance came from churches, neighbors, or county poorhouses. The New Deal introduced federal relief as a temporary measure, but the Great Society programs of the 1960s made federal aid a permanent feature of American life.
Colorado’s current predicament highlights that tension: as federal programs expand, states gain dependency — yet when federal funds retreat, they must either raise taxes or scale back support. The mobility ethic that once drove Americans westward toward opportunity now collides with a safety-net system that ties families to their ZIP code.
What Comes Next
State agencies are now under pressure to lower Colorado’s error rate below 8 percent by 2027 to avoid higher cost-sharing tiers. That means upgrading software, retraining county staff, and tightening verification cycles — each of which costs millions in its own right.
In the meantime, legislators face a hard choice: divert more general-fund money to cover food assistance, or watch counties and food banks shoulder the fallout.
Either way, the new law has ensured that Colorado — not Washington — will be responsible for cleaning up its own accounting errors.
Bottom Line
Colorado voters thought they addressed hunger and school meals by passing LL and MM. Instead, those measures have merely stabilized one program while exposing another to the largest funding shift in its history.
Unless Colorado can reduce its SNAP error rate and modernize its systems, the state may soon discover that the cost of “temporary assistance” has become a permanent line item.
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